Earlier in May, we asked PAAs to share their goals for involvement to report in the second round of consideration for the NACADA Monograph for Exemplary Practices in Peer Advising. Thanks to all who contributed!
Here’s what some PAAs shared:
So my goal in becoming a PAA was to help other students get the most out of the academics Rice has to offer. I wanted to help new students learn about all the opportunities available to them so that they could explore more pathways earlier in their career. I wanted to help them find opportunities that I only found later in my time at Rice. I’ve really loved getting to know other students better by talking to them about their interests and skills and helping them find classes or internship opportunities and more that fit them. – Katherine Wei, Lovett
What I truly love about the PAA program is that it allows anyone at their residential college to participate. I applied to be a PAA my freshman year, even though I felt slightly daunted by the fact that I was so much younger than the upperclassmen who maintained the majority in the Lovett PAA program.
My sophomore year was a great experience in the program– I was able to meet so many people at my college and at the others who I wouldn’t have interacted with otherwise. When applications were released this last spring, I encouraged all of my friends to apply! I wanted everyone to see that it didn’t matter what their major or class was; the PAA program is diverse in its student body for a reason. It was at this time that I also reapplied to the PAA program, but for a Head PAA position. Now, I am looking forward to working alongside Annie, the other Lovett Head PAA, in improving the program at our college. We really want to emphasize the differences between PAAs and Academic Fellows, and invite students of all years (not only freshmen) to utilize our resources.- Allison Clark, Lovett
There have been many occasions where students were struggling with course scheduling and overall organization of their next 4 years in college. As a PAA, I was able to assist those students in selecting the right courses and also giving them inputs on what the course generally entailed. Knowing students who have taken the class before, I was able to gather different inputs and present them to the student in a way so they can make an opinion based on the facts and not simply how other students felt about/experienced the class. Though it is difficult to advise many students from many different backgrounds and majors, I believe it is that feature that makes being a PAA so rewarding as well as important. By having PAAs who specialize in the majors and academic rules and regulations, we are able to cater to a wide variety of students by knowing where the right resources are and knowing the right direction to guide the student to academic success.- Michael Lam, Sid Rich